Lock.



' Patented Apr. l5; |902. J. J. TREAT.

l un. 697,568.

LOCK.

(Applichton lsd July 31, 1901.)

v2 sheets-sheer l.

(lo Model.)

l//l/ l l lTM: Nonms PErERs co.. PHQTaLITMQ., wAsNwoTon. u. c.

Patented Apr. l5, |902.

J. J..TREAT.

LUCK.

(Application led July 31, 1901.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.'

(No Model.)

auen/[oz @vih/wsse UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN J. TREAT, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 697,568, dated April 15, 1902.

Application led July 31, 1901. Serial No. 70,361. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. TREAT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Britain, county of Hartford, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locks, of which the following is a specilication.

The object of my invention is to produce a lock having features of novelty and advantage. It is applicable to most of the ordinary kinds of locks, and I have illustrated it as embodied in an ordinary pivoted tumbler-lock. It is designed especially to eliminate the most serious objections to the ordinary spring-latch which is in very common use. As is well known, the bolt in a spring-latch is continu- Y ally pressed forward by a spring, so that it',

for instance, the lock be attached to a door and the door closed the bolt will be retracted by the lock-plate and will be forced forward i into the lookin g recess or cavity by this spring.

The objection to these spring-locks is and alit from side to side to force the bolt back and open the door but the great advantage of a spring-lock-that it is not necessary to use a key to lock the door-has continued them in use to'a very large extent notwithstanding this very great objection. By my invention I provide a lock which operates alternately as a spring-latch and as a positive lock-that is to say, when the door is closed the bolt is positively locked in its forward position and cannot be retracted except by the use of the proper key, but when the bolt is retracted by the key and the door opened the bolt is not positively locked, but is held in its forward position simply by the spring. This permits of the door being closed and locked Without the use of a key and the bolt positively locked. [Thus it is seen 'that the operation of my improved lock is alternately that of a positive and of a spring latch.

I will describe in detail the embodiment of my invention whichis illustrated in the drawings; but it is to be clearlyunderstood that I do not wish to limit myself to the parts and their arrangements which are shown and described herein.

Figure l represents a sectional View of a lock embodying my invention, taken on the line fr w of Fig. 2, and shows the bolt positively locked. Fig. 2 is a sectional side view of my invention on the line 002 m2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the .bolt as it is retracted by the key. Fig. ltis a View similar to Fig. 3, showing the position of the parts after the key has been removed. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are detail views of the locking-bolt, the latch-plate, and one of the tumblers, respectively.

Referring to the drawings, A denotes the lock-plate, on which the parts of the lock are mounted, and B denotes the ordinary cover, adapted to be secured to the plate and cover the working parts of the lock.

C denotes t-he lockbolt having a slot o at its rear end and a stump D. y

E is what may be termed the latch-plate,

having an elongated opening at its rear end lto receive the post a, thus permitting of a` pivotal movement of the latch-plate E about 'the post a and also of a limited back-andforth movement.

ferent depths, these ratchings being sepa-I' rated by the projection f2. ,The tumblers Grl In the forward part of the plate E is an elongated'opening. The front side of this opening has ratchings ff' of dif;

are of the ordinary kind used in locks of this pattern, having the usual spring g andthe slot g', into which the stump D on the lockbolt C must pass in order to release the lockbolt. The spring H bears against the bolt, pressing it continually forward. *I

I is the ordinary key-seat, J the key, and K a post mounted in the lock-plate A, against which the latch-plate is thrown by the spring e. The part of the latch-plate E which Vrests against and moves on this post K is camshaped, ending at the rear in a shoulder e', so

that as the latch-plate is moved rearwardly itY is thrown over against the spring.

In describing the operation of my lock I will assume that the door to which it is at'l tached is closed. The parts of the lock will be in the position shown in Fig.l 1, the bolt being forward, the stump lying in the deeper ratching f inthe latch-plate, and the solid IOS parts of the tumblers lying directly back of the stump, positively locking the bolt in its forward position. lVhen the key is inserted and turned, the tumblers are first moved so that the ratchings in the different tumblers register with one another and lie in the path of movement of the stump. The key then catches a shoulder on the bolt and begins to move it back, the stump moving into the slots in the tumblers. Just after the stump clears the projection f2 the key engages the shouldere on the latch-plate and moves it back also, the latch-plate b eing at the same time thrown sidewise against the spring e by the cam-shaped side moving on the post K, all of the partsinally occupying the positions shown in Fig. 3. This clears the bolt from its locking socket or cavity, and the door may now be opened. As the key is turned back in order to remove it from the lock the bolt is thrown forward by the spring H, and the position of the latch-plate is substantially unaltered, and the stump D moves into the shallower ratching f. This stump is made of such width that when it is in the shallower ratching its other side just enters the slots in the tumblers and keeps them in line. The position of the parts when the door is open and the key is removed is shown in Fig. 4. It will be seen from this figure that the bolt is thrown forward and held simply by the spring H, and it may be retracted by pressure on it, as when it passes across what is known as the strike-plate. As soon as the boltis sufficiently retracted, so that the stump D passes out of the ratching f and beyond the projection f2, the latch-plate will immediately fly over against the post K under the infiuence of the spring e, and when the bolt comes to a position over its locking-s0cket it is thrown forward by the spring H. The stump now enters the deeper ratchingf in the latch-plate, thus releasing the tumblers, which are thrown by the springs g, bringing the solid parts of the tumblers directly behind the stumps, and thus positively locking the bolt. It is thus seen that each necessary operation of the look by the key transforms the positive lock into a spring-lock. Then as soon as the lock operates as a spring-lock it is immediately transformed into a positive lock. It will be seen, therefore, that I combine in this lock every degree of security of the positive lock with every element of convenience of the spring-lock, that no more operations are necessary to use this lock than are necessary for the use of a spring-latch, and that without affecting the safety of the lock it can be used with one less operation of the key than can the ordinary positive lock.

A lock built according to my invention may be considered either a positive lock, with the spring H and latch-plate added, or it may be considered as a spring-latch,with the tumblers and the latch-plate added; but the essential feature of my invention resides in a lock having the security of a positive lock and the convenience of a spring-latch.

I claim as my inventionl. A lock mechanism operating as and for the purposes specied, said mechanism coinprising the casing the spring-actuated bolt provided with a stump, the tumblers arranged one above the other, and the latch-plate 1ocated between the tumblers and the lock-bolt and adapted in 011e of its positions to maintain the tumblers in such a position that their ratchings shall register with one another and lie in the path of movement of thestump, substantially as described.

2. A lock mechanism operating as and for the purposes specified, said mechanism comprising the casing, the spring-actuated lockbolt, the tumblers arranged one above the other, the latch plate located between the tumblers and the bolt, ratchings in the tumblers and oppositely-disposed ratchings in the lock-plate, the stump on the bolt coacting with the ratchin gs in the tumblers and in the latchplate, substantially as described.

3. A lock adapted to operate alternately as a positive and as a spring lock, comprising the casing, the lock-bolt, the tumblers arranged one above the other, and the latch-plate located between the tumblers and the bolt, the parts being so constructed and arranged that the lock is changed from a positive to a spring lock by means of the key, and is changed from a spring-lock to a positive lock automatically by the movement of the bolt.

4. The combination in a lock with the casing, the tumblers, and the spring-actuated lock-bolt provided with a stump, of the latchplate located between the tumblers and the lock-bolt, said latch-plate having ratchings of dierent depths, the parts being so constructed and arranged that the lock is changed from a positive lock to a spring-lock when the bolt is retracted by means of a key, and changed from a spring-lock to a positive lock automatically when the bolt is retracted, substantially as described.

5. The combination in a lock with the casing, the pivoted tumblers and the bolt, of the latch-plate pivotally mounted and having a limited lengthwise movement, the latch-plate being so constructed and arranged that on one extreme position it permits the stump of the bolt to move entirely ont of the ratchings in the tumblers, and that in its opposite eX- treme position it prevents the stump on the bolt from moving out of the ratchings in the tumblers.

6. The combination with a lock and with the casing, the pivoted tumblers spring-actuated in one direction, slots in said tumblers, the sliding bolt and the stump carried by said bolt, of apivotally-mounted latch-plate springactuated in one direction and capable of limited lengthwise movement, and ratchings of different depths in said latch-plate, as and for the purposes specified.

IOO

7. .A lock mechanism comprising abolt, a tive lock being accomplished automatically plurality of pivoted tumblers. located -one bythe movement of the bolt. above the other, and a latch-plate located between the tumblers and the bolt, said mech- 5 anism being adapted to operate alternately, Witnesses :V

first as a positive and then as a springlock, A. F. CORBIN, the change from the spring-lock to the posi- W. H. DE WOLFE.

JOHN J. TREAT. 

